Republicans Attempt to Stifle Action on Climate Change

Republicans Attempt to Stifle Action on Climate Change

After first day in Congress, Republicans have outlined three bills aimed at limiting power of the Environmental Protection Agency

by

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent

In this Feb. 25, 2010 file photo, refineries and chemical plants release steam near the Houston ship channel. Republicans have wasted no time in using their new majority in Congress to try to block the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to act on climate change. (AP Photo/File/Pat Sullivan)

In their first full day in the new Congress, Republicans outlined three different bills – encapsulating three different strategies – aimed at limiting the powers of the EPA. It also shut down a house committee that had tackled energy and climate issues.

The first, introduced by Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, would declare that greenhouse gas emissions are not subject to the Clean Air Act - even though supreme court ruled in 2007 that they are.

The second, introduced by Ted Poe of Texas, would block funding to any government agency associated with cap-and-trade.

The third, introduced by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, is relatively modest, seeking a two-year delay in EPA regulation of carbon dioxide and methane emissions.

But that could make it the most likely to succeed. In the Senate, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller, has been calling for a bill to delay EPA action on climate change.

The EPA began the process of regulating greenhouse gas emissions under new rules for major power plants and oil refineries that went into effect this month.

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican who will lead the energy and commerce committee, teamed up with Tim Phillips, who is seen as a driving force behind the Tea Party groups to call the EPA moves towards regulation a job killer and an unconstitutional power-grab.

Meanwhile, Darrell Issa, who is head of the powerful new house committee on oversight and government reform, has been reaching out to oil company executives, business lobbyists, and conservative thinktanks asking which government regulations they find the most irksome. Most of the companies on Issa's list have been heavy contributors to the Republican party and several reportedly supported overturning environmental regulations.

She told reporters she thought it was highly unlikely the moves to stifle the EPA would pass in the Senate – much less be signed into law by Barack Obama.

But some environmentalists have expressed concern that Obama could be forced to sacrifice the EPA's powers at some point if it helps him to pass legislation.

"There is a thunderous chorus from much of industry demanding that these regulations be blocked," Jonathan Lash, who heads the World Resources Institute thinktank, said Thursday in his annual forecast of the environmental stories that will dominate the news.

Further

In the face of increasingly catastrophic climate news - rising sea levels, wildfires, drought - a team of Russian photographers with the non-profit AirPano have taken to the air in helicopters, airplanes, dirigibles and hot air balloons to offer virtual and panoramic tours of the planet's most stunning locations, urban to wilderness, to remind us what's at stake. Take note.